OCR Text |
Show ONE OF THE GREATEST PLAYS IS SEEN AT I OfHEl (By Godfrey Mattnews i 'k'jp When a play Is described In the' ff prpFc notices as realistic what do ,-ou i , expect to see? A soraid .-ecountal of, if h iman nature's wor3l rass'ons0 If so, the meanlnc ol r alism h:is become j , perverted. Words have tholr day aril Tf-ir fashion, and the word realism is only a synonym for truth, that '.8, wh n h word is rightly used. St. Tohn G Er vine has written a most wonderful i play which he nimself, and all who ijr have seen it, are content to describe1 as realistic. In "John Ferguson," !he author has attempted to tell the truth Rjii concerning the mental and spiritual makeup of a smali -roup .,f people in jnl an Irish village, an 1 has told it tn sr.eh powerful fashion as to merit Hip pr-H.se k of having written one of the greatest plays of modern lift Acted here last Tight al the- Or Sn L pheum theatre, by Tiicmrrr.s rf new ItSfe co-operative dramatic enterprise 'feJJK known as the TI-.:ir- Guild, the play wf was seen to great advantage, and, for i til all the deep-soun ding rote of tragedy. and the atmosphere of barely relieved ifjlj gloom, it held th" audience tens lv i. tjjit the end. Hre is a play 'hat greatly J; dares to raise the Que; tion of the waya jujiili of God with men, of the wsj of a man ,tj -with a maid that strives o show noli only how men act. but how they th'nk. and how true William Jt'ines spoke i when he said, "The only moral act is to think." The story of the play may verv brlef-'jlwl brlef-'jlwl I? 1,0 tol1- John Ferguson js an l later Irishman, deeply devout, who e sirone passion throughout life lias been to live in the light of ire word of God and to do His will Ke 19 a small farmer by profession who has f q on evil days and is ibout to Lose 1 is farm b the forpel'isjrp of a nirr-- ng from vhich he hoppy to lie Bared bj Ijjlq ' 'b e;irl arrivtil of a letter from his brother Andrew In America, who will most likely .end aim money to r!jar off the mortgage. John wife, Sarib. is her husband's s r .nr: helpmeet, whose only philosophy of existence is that love for one's own mrtkes up The only joy that humans can ever hope to know. Then :s a ('.aught or. Hannah, Han-nah, and a son, Andrew, who farms the place but poorlv and whom his father meant to be a min'.sier of lh-word lh-word The money From America failing fail-ing to arrive in 'irae, thr daughter Hannah, well desired for her beauty by many in the countryside, promises to marry Jimmy Ceasar whom she does not love, and only cecnuse .he brutal pressure -if ire mortgagor, ttonry Winthrow, rauses her to see that she must tn Willing to sacrifice her joy to promote her parent's peace. After promising Jimmy that she will marry him and talking 'tie matter over Willi her pares B and brother she, change?, her mind and , oes. by the hid ding of he r father, s ho in this also will have his daughter kmw md do ".lie Will of God," to teil Wlnthrow to foreclose fore-close the mortgage. Arriving thoie she is violated by 'he man who thinks he holds their livs in his ham's. In her distress and agony she files to "ier home and tells of her sorrow. Now there lias been areaeni in the house all evening "Clutie" Jihn, a poor halfwitted half-witted man whose -av:ngs are many timA deeper than the counsels of the spnesl men. He talks of the wicked man. this Henry Y Inthrow, and of 'he 'coward, Jimmy Ceasar, v.!io has bis own quarrels with Winthrow and who .is always breathing out hate aeainst jthe wrongdoer, but never biave enough I to put a threat imo actior.. "Jimmy" leaves the house, saying as many times before he has been made to any, that he would kill Winthrow. "dutr". however, talks to Andrew of Hannah, and of Ibe wrong that ias been done, and of Jimmy's inab'lity to put a thought of hate into action With the l result that Andrew takes 'he pun from lover the fireplace aid proceeds to Vinthrov's house." Between ihe th.rd and fourth acts, -.n internal of two weeks has passed nd in ire meant' tic Jimmy has been arrested for the mur der of Winthrow. Jimmy, teliing he stcry, defiantly protests his innocence and tells how the haired :n his hoait did drive him to the thought of murder mur-der again, that he did take his cun land so to the house, hut that before jevef he darfd to runic to c!oh qunr ters with his enemy hia rr.rt failed him. he dropped his ;;un, a;il ran to his home. Tho last act portrays ihe incidents of the nrrival of the letter froir America Amer-ica with the money DOOded to pay off Ithe mortgage anil !he expbtnatlot) tbat the money has been bard to raise, and I forpettulness has ck'ised the mlss:ng 'of the mail. The son, Andrew, no Iocs er able to bear the ihoupht that an ! other Bhall suiter for 'hat he himself 'has done, goes in deliver h.'mself up jto the magistrate and stand trial lor the murder. j So much for the poignant story oi a sreat tragedy,' of a confhc o.u ns -he age of m;kn between (.od's loirifs and our human perception of ihem "Sor I row may endure for a nitrht, hiit ,oy ! cometh in the morning. " repeptfl old John Terguson. Ay, bu: LJod's ioo late," says Hannah. 'An eye for an eye and a tooth lor a tooth." says An drew, who acts on hi$ beMef. "Y ur ', lather's aye a forivin' man," says :he poor "Cluii" In 'he ad we see ihe passion of nature break through 'he religious philosophy o the oh! nvan who pleads that his ion snail make bis 'escape, and tBe outbreak nf manhood's (sense of right in Andrew when he goes j to deliver himself up to ju.1ice The author has done his .vork .u premely well. His characters live and I breathe as humans do. -ieve and thr-re the author's conception of the parts I was not lived up to by the actor's poi Itraylng them despite a cr nigh level : of acting attained by .t ern all. I The father, John Ferguson, played by Robert Forsyth, was In all physical appearance a spl ".did portrayal of the old man, but he did n.t BUfficietly con-vey con-vey the idea of weakness and old age, ,and we would dare to suggest that he alter both his make-up and his delivery deliv-ery to strengthen his part. The wife, ! Sarah, played by Alice Shapln, was at her weakest in the opening ot the first I act, and diil not show her real strength until the close of the fourth. Edward Favor, acting the part of Jimmy i Ceasar. was easily the strongest actor ion the stage. easily doing justice ! to a complex part and giving almost a living portrait of the author's con-f con-f ption "f the character. JoBepb Al-baton, Al-baton, as "Clutie," the man "a wee I bit astray in his mind," rendered a magnificent interpretation of a really difficult part. Anseki MaoCabill as Hannah Ferguson, Fergu-son, was strong in every demand made of her and, in the passages of domesth devotion, distraught anguish, and resigned faith, was a noble expression ex-pression of deep understanding and true insight into th1 character of h'vr part. Warner Richmond as Andrew I Ferguson waa well played except for l (strong tendency to "overdo" his part I Mr Richmond ran afford tn siudy his part in its spintual exactions a little iinoro clearly. The house was not neatly full and it is to be hoped that tonight's perlorm-iance perlorm-iance will see the place crowded to the , roof. Mr. Joss has not brought ;.:iy ' plaj of the merits of "John Ferguson" ; to Ogden in a long time. No lover of dramatic art can afford to miss this : most signal success of the season. |